SmallHD, makers of the awesome 5-inch monitors the 500 series, have some great news for those who are new to the world of 3D LUTs. The innovative US-based manufacturer just announced that they are giving away a free set of colour grades that recreate the unique look of seven different iconic films, and are also publishing multiple video tutorials explaining how to get the most out of these looks during both production and post production—all 100% free of charge. The Free LUT Pack from SmallHD re-creates the look of classic Hollywood films such as Apocalypse Now, The Tree Of Life, Saving Private Ryan, The Matrix and more.

“Colour grading will soon be critical to every shooter’s workflow,” says Wes Phillips, CEO. “We’re giving away this free pack of looks and colour grading educational material to provide a fun entry point into the world of working with 3D LUTs.”

SmallHD have announced that they are giving away a free set of colour grades that recreate the unique look of seven different iconic films, and are also publishing multiple video tutorials explaining how to get the most out of these looks during both production and post production—all 100% free of charge.

“Colour grading will soon be critical to every shooter’s workflow,” says Wes Phillips, CEO. “We’re giving away this free pack of looks and color grading educational material to provide a fun entry point into the world of working with 3D LUTs.”

Provided in a small downloadable .zip file, the color grades come in the form of 3D LUT files (3D “lookup tables”) originally designed in DaVinci Resolve. Visually iconic films such as Apocalypse Now, Saving Private Ryan, The Matrix, and Moonrise Kingdom are among the seven free color grades.

Designed to help teach filmmakers who are not yet versed in the use of color grades, the tutorial video outlines the capabilities and advantages of applying LUTs or “looks” to footage during actual shoots. The tutorial is tailored for developing new looks on the popular free DaVinci Resolve colour grading software.

The video tutorials and 3D LUTs download are both available on the Community section of SmallHD’s website

Filmmakers have long known that recording flat or LOG video, with its low contrast image, offers great advantages to the post-production process by preserving as much data as possible. However, viewing this flat video can make it tricky to gauge colour and exposure, and can make critical focus difficult. Further, looking at raw images can also be disconcerting for an on-site client, where the filmmakers have to constantly explain what the imagery “will look like in post.”

The solution is applying 3D LUTs to the video shown in the on-set monitor, without altering the footage recorded from the camera itself. 3D LUTs are pre-defined profiles applied to the monitoring of a camera to give a representation of a corrected image or an image with a specific gamma curve. Creating a custom LUT is a step further. It can be an on-set tool providing a representation of the final desired image.

SmallHD offers seven different 3D LUTs, each emulating the look of a popular motion picture. As a starting point, a shooter or DIT readying for a specific location can apply one of these looks to test footage from the location using the DaVinci color grading software. That look can then be modified so the test footage has just the look desired when it is out of post-production. SmallHD clearly explains the process, step by step.

Displaying the on-set video with the look applied is made simple with SmallHD’s newest firmware upgrade to its 501 and 502 Full HD monitors.

The firmware upgrade enables the monitor’s output to carry the LUT information to other monitors on-set. This feature will be resident in future monitors developed by SmallHD and likely other manufacturers will follow suit.